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The Ontario government is introducing new rules for publicly advertising jobs in the new year, but questions remain about whether the changes will bring tangible benefits to job seekers.
The changes under the Employment Standards Act come into force on January 1, 2026 and will apply to employers with more than 25 employees.
Among the changes, employers will be required to post remuneration information for any position advertised. If a salary range is provided, it must be $50,000 per year or less.
Employers will be required to disclose whether artificial intelligence is used in hiring processes.
They will also be prohibited from asking about Canadian work experience in any job postings and will be required to inform candidates whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of the last interview.
Catherine Tremblay is the owner of Altis Recruitment, a staffing firm serving across Canada. She applauded the Ontario government for seeking to improve transparency and fairness in the hiring process, but doubted the changes would have the desired effect.
British Columbia has introduced a requirement to include salary information in all public job postings in 2023 to improve pay equity.
Since then, British Columbia has reported “modest” success in closing the gender wage gap, with this year's report showing two percent reduction inequality in pay between men and women.
“So there is some gain, but we haven't seen it really reduce the pay gap,” said Tremblay, who predicted similar “marginal gains” from Ontario's new rule on declaring expected compensation.
“I’m really pleased that the government is committed to providing greater pay transparency. I just don't know if it will have the desired effect,” she said.
In particular, allowing a range of up to $50,000 may reduce the information value of the advertised salary. “I’m concerned about this wide range,” she said.
Likewise, she expressed doubt that the notice on the use of artificial intelligence in recruiting would allay concerns that the new technology could introduce implicit bias into the recruitment process.
“The problem is that all employers will say the same thing: 'We'll use AI in some format to screen selected candidates and a human will call you for an interview,'” she explained.
WITH Unemployment is rising in OntarioTremblay worries that the new rules could be burdensome for employers.
“I see all employers struggling to achieve this,” she said. “I think it would have been great if this had been implemented a few years ago, but now, at a time when we all need to be focused on growing revenue, maximizing our strong productivity, and upskilling our candidates and our people in AI… the timing is not right.”
Detailed information about the changes is available Here.
